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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The Power of Habit [Chapter 3]

No matter how much people try, they cannot extinguish a bad habit; will power fails to conquer the power of an in-built habit. “The Golden Rule of Habit Change” details this concept in depth, but there’s hope. The way to override an undesirable habit is to change or replace it with a new one, as examples from NFL coach Tony Dungy and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson reveal.

Dungy’s and Wilson’s respective examples demonstrate how each man succeeded in habit reform. They both understood a fundamental concept. As Duhigg explains, “If you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same” (62).

How did Duhigg’s formulation alter or confirm your previously held beliefs about transforming behavior or longstanding habits?

5 comments:

Katrina S.
said...

Duhigg introduces an element of faith with Dungy's football story. A habit requires faith in the habit and to not think twice. I never thought of a habit in that way before.

Also I never thought of a habit as being simple as changing a routine. Putting something else in place of the thing you do not want to do anymore. It seems simple, but I imagine it would take a lot of work to stay consistent and not full back into the old habit.

The idea of faith being the factor of a habit is interesting to me. This means that you trust whatever this habit is. Habit can be changed by changing your routine. This concept seems so simple but I feel as if changing your routine can just cause you to find a new habit.

Duhigg's changing of a habit or replacing the habit with a new one is a different approach from what I've always lived by. I'm not ashamed to say that I come from a background of addiction. In seeing that, most of the time my loved ones will recover from one bad habit and pick up another in the process. I guess you can say that they did replace or change the routine, but it has not always been for the better.

In seeing that, I have always lived by breaking a bad habit. This means if I decide to give up or stop doing something, I don’t' want to replace it with something else that could remind me of the old habit.

I do however see where Duhigg's philosophy could come into play and I may give it a try in the future. Again this is an interesting read and I can't wait to see what's next!

Nia W.I agree with Katrina. Changing the routine of a habit seems a bit hard. I'm not so sure if I'm sold on the whole faith aspect of the Golden Rule. I feel as though one would eventually fall back into the their same ways of doing things after a while. I suppose it would take a lot of discipline and self control to change the routine of a bad habit.

The idea that faith is a key factor in a habit is very interesting, but it makes complete sense. In order to continue a habit without thought you must believe or have faith that the outcome of the action will always stay the same.